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Geo-Information for Watershed Processes
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Geo-Information for Watershed Processes

A special issue of ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 45477

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Walter Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Sec. 3, Chung-Hsiao E. Road, Taipei 10608, Taiwan
Interests: soil erosion; machine learning; geotechnical engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fuan Tsai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, 300 Zhongda Road, Zhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan
Interests: remote sensing; spatial analysis; image analysis; 3D metrology and reconstruction, geovisualization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A watershed is a land unit where both surface water and underground water drain to the same outlet. It is the most important landscape in many parts of the world. It is also the most appropriate scale for assessing the environmental impacts of natural and anthropogenic changes, including soil erosion, sediment transport, agricultural nonpoint source pollution, and carbon cycling. Watershed processes affect the natural landscape (e.g., forest formation, soil loss, carbon dynamics, stream geomorphology, habitat creation, and ecosystem service provision), which in turn shapes the human response to sustainability issues (e.g., quality of water, natural resource values, sustainable land use, flood control, and disaster mitigation). More and more research focuses on the role of watersheds as the basic unit for assessing landscape conditions and implementing geospatial solutions to efficiently integrate complex components in the scenario analysis of watershed functions. The use of geo-information in watershed analysis is of increasing relevance and even urgency. It is an interdisciplinary effort involving experts and researchers from diverse fields such as remote sensing, GIS, geospatial visualization, watershed hydrology, watershed development, watershed-based natural resource management, land use, water resources, stream restoration, water science, water supply planning, water budgeting, aquifer delineation, stormwater management, ecology, ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, environmental engineering, environmental policy, fisheries, wildlife science, forestry, climate-induced vulnerability assessment, and climate-resilient sustainable agriculture. This Special Issue calls upon researchers across different fields to contribute innovative and original work that encompasses different areas of watershed analysis, such as (but not limited to):

  • Advancement in geo-information technology and applications to watersheds;
  • Application of Google Earth Engine to watershed science;
  • Spatial–temporal models of watershed processes;
  • Big data and watershed characterization;
  • Use of GIS and geoprocessing in watershed modeling;
  • Remote sensing and geovisualization for watershed landscape evolution;
  • Monitoring dynamic changes in watershed land surface;
  • Watershed road extraction from aerial images using machine learning;
  • Soil contamination or soil pollution in watersheds;
  • Watershed ecosystem monitoring and evaluation;
  • Illegal reclamation in watersheds;
  • Watershed landslide detection and debris quantification;
  • Check dam detection in watersheds;
  • Sheet/rill erosion and gully erosion of watersheds;
  • Soil erosion hotspot analysis in watersheds;
  • Sediment transport and yield in watersheds;
  • Watershed management under climate change;
  • Sustainable development of watersheds;
  • Sustainable construction in watersheds;
  • Forest and forest profile mapping in watersheds;
  • Watershed land use and land cover classification;
  • Watershed virtual tourism;
  • Watershed reservoir management and siltation removal;
  • Watershed natural disaster mitigation;
  • Watershed disaster alerts and protocols;
  • Project-based learning applied to watershed science.

Prof. Dr. Walter Chen
Prof. Dr. Fuan Tsai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • watershed
  • Google Earth Engine
  • machine learning
  • remote sensing
  • soil erosion
  • sediment transport
  • climate change
  • ecosystem monitoring
  • landslide
  • disaster mitigation
  • land use
  • land cover
  • sustainable construction

Published Papers (19 papers)

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23 pages, 6521 KiB  
Article
Application of Hydro-Based Morphological Models for Environmental Assessment of Watersheds
by Silvio Luís Rafaeli Neto, Vanessa Jutel dos Santos, Emili Louise Diconcili Schutz, Leticia Margarete de Moliner, Cristiane Gracieli Kloth, Daiane Teixeira Schier, Arsalan Ahmed Othman, Veraldo Liesenberg and Polyanna da Conceição Bispo
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2023, 12(8), 314; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12080314 - 31 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1095
Abstract
Hydro-based morphological models are representations of the terrain related to the flow or storage of water in the landscape. However, their application in the context of an integrated environmental assessment has been scarcely explored in the literature, despite the well-known importance of water [...] Read more.
Hydro-based morphological models are representations of the terrain related to the flow or storage of water in the landscape. However, their application in the context of an integrated environmental assessment has been scarcely explored in the literature, despite the well-known importance of water for ecosystems and land use planning. Here, we derive the HAND and TWI models, which present solid conceptual bases based on water–landscape relationships from digital terrain models. We aim to present these models as useful representations in the environmental assessment of watersheds as they are relatively easy to generate and interpret. To this end, we applied these models in a Brazilian watershed and evaluated their spatial and reciprocal occurrence in the hydrological landscape through geographic entities and their spatial relationships with other landscape elements such as land use. We argue that HAND and TWI are simple hydrological-based models with robust premises that can reveal intrinsic relationships between relief parameters and water, providing new perspectives for the environmental assessment of small watersheds. Their outcomes have tremendous implications for land management initiatives. Our results show that geometric signatures of the TWI appeared through all the structural units of the hydrological landscape. The plateau areas were most prone to water accumulation/soil saturation, followed by floodplains, hillslopes, and ecotones. Thus, there is a tendency for the greatest geometric signatures of water accumulation/soil saturation entities to be located near the higher-order channels as well as the greatest geometric signatures of the floodplains. Agriculture and planted forests increased with distance, while the areas occupied by forest remnants tended to decrease within a range of up to 50 m from channels. However, they were also found within 50 m around the springs, whereas open fields, urban areas, and water bodies remained stable. We argue that HAND and TWI are simple hydrological-based models with robust premises that can reveal intrinsic relationships between the relief parameters and water, providing new perspectives for the environmental assessment of small watersheds whose outcomes have tremendous implications for land management initiatives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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31 pages, 7707 KiB  
Article
Assessment of a Dynamic Physically Based Slope Stability Model to Evaluate Timing and Distribution of Rainfall-Induced Shallow Landslides
by Juby Thomas, Manika Gupta, Prashant K. Srivastava and George P. Petropoulos
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2023, 12(3), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12030105 - 02 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2455
Abstract
Shallow landslides due to hydro-meteorological factors are one of the most common destructive geological processes, which have become more frequent in recent years due to changes in rainfall frequency and intensity. The present study assessed a dynamic, physically based slope stability model, Transient [...] Read more.
Shallow landslides due to hydro-meteorological factors are one of the most common destructive geological processes, which have become more frequent in recent years due to changes in rainfall frequency and intensity. The present study assessed a dynamic, physically based slope stability model, Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-Based Slope Stability Model (TRIGRS), in Idukki district, Kerala, Western Ghats. The study compared the impact of hydrogeomechanical parameters derived from two different data sets, FAO soil texture and regionally available soil texture, on the simulation of the distribution and timing of shallow landslides. For assessing the landslide distribution, 1913 landslides were compared and true positive rates (TPRs) of 68% and 60% were obtained with a nine-day rainfall period for the FAO- and regional-based data sets, respectively. However, a false positive rate (FPR) of 36% and 31% was also seen, respectively. The timing of occurrence of nine landslide events was assessed, which were triggered in the second week of June 2018. Even though the distribution of eight landslides was accurately simulated, the timing of only three events was found to be accurate. The study concludes that the model simulations using parameters derived from either of the soil texture data sets are able to identify the location of the event. However, there is a need for including a high-spatial-resolution hydrogeomechanical parameter data set to improve the timing of landslide event modeling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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21 pages, 5201 KiB  
Article
A Comparison Study of Landslide Susceptibility Spatial Modeling Using Machine Learning
by Nurwatik Nurwatik, Muhammad Hidayatul Ummah, Agung Budi Cahyono, Mohammad Rohmaneo Darminto and Jung-Hong Hong
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(12), 602; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11120602 - 02 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2000
Abstract
One hundred seventeen landslides occurred in Malang Regency throughout 2021, triggering the need for practical hazard assessments to strengthen the disaster mitigation process. In terms of providing a solution for investigating the location of landslides more precisely, this research aims to compare machine [...] Read more.
One hundred seventeen landslides occurred in Malang Regency throughout 2021, triggering the need for practical hazard assessments to strengthen the disaster mitigation process. In terms of providing a solution for investigating the location of landslides more precisely, this research aims to compare machine learning algorithms to produce an accurate landslide susceptibility model. This research applies three machine learning algorithms composed of RF (random forest), NB (naïve Bayes), and KNN (k-nearest neighbor) and 12 conditioning factors. The conditioning factors consist of slope, elevation, aspect, NDVI, geological type, soil type, distance from the fault, distance from the river, river density, TWI, land cover, and annual rainfall. This research performs seven models over three ratios between the training and testing dataset encompassing 50:50, 60:40, and 70:30 for KNN and NB algorithms and 70:30 for the RF algorithm. This research measures the performance of each model using eight parameters (ROC, AUC, ACC, SN, SP, BA, GM, CK, and MCC). The results indicate that RF 70:30 generates the best performance, witnessed by the evaluation parameters ACC (0.884), SN (0.765), GM (0.863), BA (0.857), CK (0.749), MCC (0.876), and AUC (0.943). Overall, seven models have reasonably good accuracy, ranging between 0.806 and 0.884. Furthermore, based on the best model, the study area is dominated by high susceptibility with an area coverage of 51%, which occurs in the areas with high slopes. This research is expected to improve the quality of landslide susceptibility maps in the study area as a foundation for mitigation planning. Furthermore, it can provide recommendations for further research in splitting ratio scenarios between training and testing data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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14 pages, 5183 KiB  
Article
Classification of Floods in Europe and North America with Focus on Compound Events
by Steven Brazda, Mojca Šraj and Nejc Bezak
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(12), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11120580 - 22 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1430
Abstract
Compound events occur when multiple drivers or hazards occur in the same region or on the same time scale, hence amplifying their impacts. Compound events can cause large economic damage or endanger human lives. Thus, a better understanding of the characteristics of these [...] Read more.
Compound events occur when multiple drivers or hazards occur in the same region or on the same time scale, hence amplifying their impacts. Compound events can cause large economic damage or endanger human lives. Thus, a better understanding of the characteristics of these events is needed in order to protect human lives. This study investigates the drivers and characteristics of floods in Europe and North America from the compound event perspective. More than 100 catchments across Europe and North America were selected as case study examples in order to investigate characteristics of floods during a 1979–2019 period. Air temperature, precipitation, snow thickness, snow liquid water equivalent, wind speed, vapour pressure, and soil moisture content were used as potential drivers. Annual maximum floods were classified into several flood types. Predefined flood types were snowmelt floods, rain-on-snow floods, short precipitation floods and long precipitation floods that were further classified into two sub-categories (i.e., wet and dry initial conditions). The results of this study show that snowmelt floods were often the dominant flood type in the selected catchments, especially at higher latitudes. Moreover, snow-related floods were slightly less frequent for high altitude catchments compared to low- and medium-elevation catchments. These high-altitude areas often experience intense summer rainstorms that generate the highest annual discharges. On the other hand, snowmelt-driven floods were the predominant flood type for the lower elevation catchments. Moreover, wet initial conditions were more frequent than the dry initial conditions, indicating the importance of the soil moisture for flood generation. Hence, these findings can be used for flood risk management and modelling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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21 pages, 7135 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Coastal Erosion in the Watersheds of Municipality of Buenaventura, Colombia: Using Geospatial Techniques and the Composite Vulnerability Index
by Jose Eduardo Fuentes, Robin Alexis Olaya and Cesar Edwin Garcia
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(11), 568; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11110568 - 15 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2001
Abstract
Buenaventura on the Colombian Pacific coast has experienced a wide range of threats, mainly due to the effects of coastal erosion and flooding. Globally, millions of people will experience increased vulnerability in the coming decades due to climate change. The change in the [...] Read more.
Buenaventura on the Colombian Pacific coast has experienced a wide range of threats, mainly due to the effects of coastal erosion and flooding. Globally, millions of people will experience increased vulnerability in the coming decades due to climate change. The change in the coastline (1986–2020) over time was analyzed with remote sensors and the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) in conjunction with GIS. A total of 16 indicators were selected to quantitatively evaluate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to construct a composite vulnerability index (COVI). The endpoint rate (EPR) of the change in the coastline was estimated. The results showed that 35% of the study area was stable, 18% of the coastline experienced erosion processes, and 47% experienced accretion. The COVI analysis revealed that coastal watersheds show great spatial heterogeneity; 31.4% of the area had moderate vulnerability levels, 26.5% had low vulnerability levels, and 41.9% had high vulnerability levels. This analysis revealed that the watersheds located in the northern (Málaga Bay) and central (Anchicaya, Cajambre, and Rapposo basins) parts of the coastal zone were more vulnerable than the other areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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20 pages, 26060 KiB  
Article
Use of a MODIS Satellite-Based Aridity Index to Monitor Drought Conditions in the Pearl River Basin from 2001 to 2021
by Kunlong Niu, Junliang Qiu, Shirong Cai, Wenxin Zhang, Xiaolin Mu, Edward Park and Xiankun Yang
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(11), 541; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11110541 - 28 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1907
Abstract
In recent decades, global climate change has made natural hazards increasingly prevalent. Droughts, as a common natural hazard, have been a hot study topic for years. Most studies conducted drought monitoring in arid and semi-arid regions. In humid and sub-humid regions, due to [...] Read more.
In recent decades, global climate change has made natural hazards increasingly prevalent. Droughts, as a common natural hazard, have been a hot study topic for years. Most studies conducted drought monitoring in arid and semi-arid regions. In humid and sub-humid regions, due to climate change, seasonal droughts and seasonal water shortages were often observed too, but have not been well studied. This study, using a MODIS satellite-based aridity index (SbAI), investigated spatiotemporal changes in drought conditions in the subtropical Pearl River Basin. The study results indicated that the inter-annual SbAI exhibited a significant decreasing trend, illustrating a wetter trend observed in the basin in the past two decades. The decreasing trend in the SbAI was statistically significant in the dry season, but not in the monsoon season. The drought conditions displayed an insignificant expansion in the monsoon season, but exhibited statistically significant shrinking in the dry season. The Pearl River Basin has become wetter over past two decades, probably due to the results of natural impacts and human activities. The areas with increased drought conditions are more likely impacted by human activities such as water withdrawal for irrigation and industrial uses, and fast urbanization and increased impervious surfaces and resultant reduction in water storage capacity. This study provided a valuable reference for drought assessment across the Pearl River Basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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18 pages, 8070 KiB  
Article
Dynamics of the Burlan and Pomacochas Lakes Using SAR Data in GEE, Machine Learning Classifiers, and Regression Methods
by Darwin Gómez Fernández, Rolando Salas López, Nilton B. Rojas Briceño, Jhonsy O. Silva López and Manuel Oliva
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(11), 534; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11110534 - 24 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2096
Abstract
Amazonas is a mountain region in Peru with high cloud cover, so using optical data in the analysis of surface changes of water bodies (such as the Burlan and Pomacochas lakes in Peru) is difficult, on the other hand, SAR images are suitable [...] Read more.
Amazonas is a mountain region in Peru with high cloud cover, so using optical data in the analysis of surface changes of water bodies (such as the Burlan and Pomacochas lakes in Peru) is difficult, on the other hand, SAR images are suitable for the extraction of water bodies and delineation of contours. Therefore, in this research, to determine the surface changes of Burlan and Pomacochas lakes, we used Sentinel-1 A/B products to analyse the dynamics from 2014 to 2020, in addition to evaluating the procedure we performed a photogrammetric flight and compared the shapes and geometric attributes from each lake. For this, in Google Earth Engine (GEE), we processed 517 SAR images for each lake using the following algorithms: a classification and regression tree (CART), Random Forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM).) 2021-02-10, then; the same value was validated by comparing the area and perimeter values obtained from a photogrammetric flight, and the classification of a SAR image of the same date. During the first months of the year, there were slight increases in the area and perimeter of each lake, influenced by the increase in rainfall in the area. CART and Random Forest obtained better results for image classification, and for regression analysis, Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Random Forest Regression (RFR) were a better fit to the data (higher R2), for Burlan and Pomacochas lakes, respectively. The shape of the lakes obtained by classification was similar to that of the photogrammetric flight. For 2021-02-10, for Burlan Lake, all 3 classifiers had area values between 42.48 and 43.53, RFR 44.47 and RPAS 45.63 hectares. For Pomacohas Lake, the 3 classifiers had area values between 414.23 and 434.89, SVR 411.89 and RPAS 429.09 hectares. Ultimately, we seek to provide a rapid methodology to classify SAR images into two categories and thus obtain the shape of water bodies and analyze their changes over short periods. A methodological scheme is also provided to perform a regression analysis in GC using five methods that can be replicated in different thematic areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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29 pages, 17805 KiB  
Article
Aquifer and Land Subsidence Interaction Assessment Using Sentinel-1 Data and DInSAR Technique
by Fatemeh Rafiei, Saeid Gharechelou, Saeed Golian and Brian Alan Johnson
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(9), 495; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11090495 - 19 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2370
Abstract
Climate change and overpopulation have led to an increase in water demands worldwide. As a result, land subsidence due to groundwater extraction and water level decline is causing damage to communities in arid and semiarid regions. The agricultural plain of Samalghan in Iran [...] Read more.
Climate change and overpopulation have led to an increase in water demands worldwide. As a result, land subsidence due to groundwater extraction and water level decline is causing damage to communities in arid and semiarid regions. The agricultural plain of Samalghan in Iran has recently experienced wide areas of land subsidence, which is hypothesized to be caused by groundwater overexploitation. This hypothesis was assessed by estimating the amount of subsidence that occurred in the Samalghan plain using DInSAR based on an analysis of 25 Sentinel-1 descending SAR images over 6 years. To assess the influence of water level changes on this phenomenon, groundwater level maps were produced, and their relationship with land subsidence was evaluated. Results showed that one major cause of the subsidence in the Samalghan plain was groundwater overexploitation, with the highest average land subsidence occurring in 2019 (34 cm) and the lowest in 2015 and 2018 (18 cm). Twelve Sentinel-1 ascending images were used for relative validation of the DInSAR processing. The correlation value varied from 0.69 to 0.89 (an acceptable range). Finally, the aquifer behavior was studied, and changes in cultivation patterns and optimal utilization of groundwater resources were suggested as practical strategies to control the current situation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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24 pages, 7373 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Morphometric Parameters as the Basis for Hydrological Inferences in Water Resource Management: A Case Study from the Sinú River Basin in Colombia
by Alvaro López-Ramos, Juan Pablo Medrano-Barboza, Luisa Martínez-Acosta, Guillermo J. Acuña, John Freddy Remolina López and Alvaro Alberto López-Lambraño
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(9), 459; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11090459 - 24 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3811
Abstract
The geomorphology of a basin makes it possible for us to understand its hydrological pattern. Accordingly, satellite-based remote sensing and geo-information technologies have proven to be effective tools in the morphology analysis at the basin level. Consequently, this present study carried out a [...] Read more.
The geomorphology of a basin makes it possible for us to understand its hydrological pattern. Accordingly, satellite-based remote sensing and geo-information technologies have proven to be effective tools in the morphology analysis at the basin level. Consequently, this present study carried out a morphological analysis of the Sinú river basin, analyzing its geometric characteristics, drainage networks, and relief to develop integrated water resource management. The analyzed zone comprises an area of 13,971.7 km2 with three sub-basins, the upper, the middle, and the lower Sinú sub-basins, where seventeen morphometric parameters were evaluated using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) tools to identify the rainwater harvesting potential index. The Sinú basin has a dendritic drainage pattern, and the results of the drainage network parameters make it possible for us to infer that the middle and lower Sinú areas are the ones mainly affected by floods. The basin geometry parameters indicate an elongated shape, implying a lesser probability of uniform and homogeneous rainfall. Additionally, the hypsometric curve shape indicates that active fluvial and alluvial sedimentary processes are present, allowing us to conclude that much of the material has been eroded and deposited in the basin’s lower zones as it could be confirmed with the geological information available. The obtained results and GIS tools confirm the basin’s geological heterogeneity. Furthermore, they were used to delimit the potential water harvesting zones following the rainwater harvesting potential index (RWHPI) methodology. The research demonstrates that drainage morphometry has a substantial impact on understanding landform processes, soil characteristics, and erosional characteristics. Additionally, the results help us understand the relationship between hydrological variables and geomorphological parameters as guidance and/or decision-making instruments for the competent authorities to establish actions for the sustainable development of the basin, flood control, water supply planning, water budgeting, and disaster mitigation within the Sinú river basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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18 pages, 3467 KiB  
Article
Vegetation Greenness Trend in Dry Seasons and Its Responses to Temperature and Precipitation in Mara River Basin, Africa
by Wanyi Zhu, Zhenke Zhang, Shuhe Zhao, Xinya Guo, Priyanko Das, Shouming Feng and Binglin Liu
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(8), 426; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11080426 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1927
Abstract
The Mara River Basin of Africa has a world-famous ecosystem with vast vegetation, which is home to many wild animals. However, the basin is experiencing vegetation degradation and bad climate change, which has caused conflicts between people and wild animals, especially in dry [...] Read more.
The Mara River Basin of Africa has a world-famous ecosystem with vast vegetation, which is home to many wild animals. However, the basin is experiencing vegetation degradation and bad climate change, which has caused conflicts between people and wild animals, especially in dry seasons. This paper studied the vegetation greenness (VG), vegetation greenness trends (VGT), and their responses to climate change in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin, Africa. Firstly, based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Sentinel-2 images, the vegetation distribution map of the Mara River Basin was drawn. Then dry seasons MODIS NDVI data (January to February and June to September) were used to analyze the VGT. Finally, a random forest regression algorithm was used to evaluate the response of VG and VGT to temperature and precipitation derived from ERA5 from 2000 to 2019 at a resolution of 250 m. The results showed that the VGT was fluctuating in dry seasons, and the spatial differentiation was obvious. The greenness increasing trends both upstream and downstream were significantly larger than that of in the midstream. The responses of VG to precipitation were almost twice larger than temperature, and the responses of VGT to temperature were about 1.5 times larger than precipitation. The climate change trend of rising temperature and falling precipitation will lead to the degradation of vegetation and the reduction of crop production. There will be a vegetation degradation crisis in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin in the future. Identifying the spatiotemporal changes of VGT in dry seasons will be helpful to understand the response of VG and VGT to climate change and could also provide technical support to cope with climate-change-related issues for the basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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17 pages, 10774 KiB  
Article
Identifying Suitable Watersheds across Nigeria Using Biophysical Parameters and Machine Learning Algorithms for Agri–Planning
by Pranay Panjala, Murali Krishna Gumma, Hakeem Ayinde Ajeigbe, Murtala Muhammad Badamasi, Kumara Charyulu Deevi and Ramadjita Tabo
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(8), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11080416 - 22 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1955
Abstract
Identifying suitable watersheds is a prerequisite to operationalizing planning interventions for agricultural development. With the help of geospatial tools, this paper identified suitable watersheds across Nigeria using biophysical parameters to aid agricultural planning. Our study included various critical thematic layers such as precipitation, [...] Read more.
Identifying suitable watersheds is a prerequisite to operationalizing planning interventions for agricultural development. With the help of geospatial tools, this paper identified suitable watersheds across Nigeria using biophysical parameters to aid agricultural planning. Our study included various critical thematic layers such as precipitation, temperature, slope, land-use/land-cover (LULC), soil texture, soil depth, and length of growing period, prepared and modeled on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Using expert knowledge, scores were assigned to these thematic layers, and a priority map was prepared based on the combined weighted average score. We also validated priority watersheds. For this, the study area was classified into three priority zones ranging from ‘high’ to ‘low’. Of the 277 watersheds identified, 57 fell in the high priority category, implying that they are highly favorable for interventions. This would be useful for regional-scale water resource planning for agricultural landscape development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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20 pages, 8492 KiB  
Article
Landslide Susceptibility Prediction Based on High-Trust Non-Landslide Point Selection
by Yizhun Zhang and Qisheng Yan
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(7), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11070398 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1907
Abstract
Landslide susceptibility prediction has the disadvantages of being challenging to apply to expanding landslide samples and the low accuracy of a subjective random selection of non-landslide samples. Taking Fu’an City, Fujian Province, as an example, a model based on a semi-supervised framework using [...] Read more.
Landslide susceptibility prediction has the disadvantages of being challenging to apply to expanding landslide samples and the low accuracy of a subjective random selection of non-landslide samples. Taking Fu’an City, Fujian Province, as an example, a model based on a semi-supervised framework using particle swarm optimization to optimize extreme learning machines (SS-PSO-ELM) is proposed. Based on the landslide samples, a semi-supervised learning framework is constructed through Density Peak Clustering (DPC), Frequency Ratio (FR), and Random Forest (RF) models to expand and divide the landslide sample data. The landslide susceptibility was predicted using high-trust sample data as the input variables of the data-driven model. The results show that the area under the curve (AUC) valued at the SS-PSO-ELM model for landslide susceptibility prediction is 0.893 and the root means square error (RMSE) is 0.370, which is better than ELM and PSO-ELM models without the semi-supervised framework. It shows that the SS-PSO-ELM model is more effective in landslide susceptibility. Thus, it provides a new research idea for predicting landslide susceptibility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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19 pages, 7419 KiB  
Article
Certainty Factor Analyses and Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Landslide Evolution: Case Studies in the Chishan River Watershed in Taiwan
by Chunhung Wu
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(7), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11070382 - 10 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1446
Abstract
The 1999 Chichi earthquake and Typhoon Morakot in 2009 caused two serious landslide events in the Chishan river watershed in southern Taiwan. In this study, certainty factor analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of landslide occurrence, and spatiotemporal hotspot analysis was used [...] Read more.
The 1999 Chichi earthquake and Typhoon Morakot in 2009 caused two serious landslide events in the Chishan river watershed in southern Taiwan. In this study, certainty factor analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of landslide occurrence, and spatiotemporal hotspot analysis was used to explain the pattern and distribution of landslide hotspots. The Z-values from the Getis–Ord formula were used to assess the clustering strength of landslide evolution on different scales and with different landslide sizes in different time periods. The landslide-prone area had an elevation of 1000–1750 m, a slope of >40°, and hillslopes with N, NE, E, and SE aspects and was within 100 m of rivers. The main spatiotemporal hotspot patterns of landslide evolution during 1999–2017 were oscillating hotspots, intensifying hotspots, and persistent hotspots, and the three main hotspot patterns occupied 80.1–89.4% of all hotspot areas. The main spatiotemporal landslide hotspots were concentrated in the core landslide areas and the downslopes of riverbank landslide areas, especially in the upstream subwatersheds. The landslide clustered strength in the upstream watershed was 3.4 times larger than that in the Chishan river watershed, and that in large landslides was 2.4 and 6.6 times larger than those in medium and small landslides, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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20 pages, 5815 KiB  
Article
Ecological Impact Prediction of Groundwater Change in Phreatic Aquifer under Multi-Mining Conditions
by Shenghui Zhou, Tingxi Liu and Limin Duan
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(7), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11070359 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1495
Abstract
In aeolian sandy grass shoal catchment areas that rely heavily on groundwater, mining-induced geological deformation and aquifer drainage are likely to cause irreversible damage to natural groundwater systems and affect the original circulation of groundwater, thus threatening the ecological environment. This study aimed [...] Read more.
In aeolian sandy grass shoal catchment areas that rely heavily on groundwater, mining-induced geological deformation and aquifer drainage are likely to cause irreversible damage to natural groundwater systems and affect the original circulation of groundwater, thus threatening the ecological environment. This study aimed to predict the impact of groundwater level decline on vegetation growth in the Hailiutu River Basin (HRB), which is a coal-field area. Based on remote-sensing data, the land use/cover change was interpreted and analyzed, and the central areas of greensward land in the basin were determined. Subsequently, the correlation between groundwater depth and grassland distribution was analyzed. Then, the groundwater system under natural conditions was modeled using MODFLOW, and the groundwater flow field in 2029 was predicted by loading the generalized treatment of coal mine drainage water to the model. The change in groundwater depth caused by coal mining and its influence on the grassland were obtained. The results show that coal mining will decrease the groundwater depth, which would induce degradation risks in 4 of the original 34 aggregation centers of greensward land that originally depended on groundwater for growth in HRB because they exceeded the groundwater threshold. The prediction results show that the maximum settlement of groundwater level can reach 5 m in the northern (Yinpanhao), 6 m in the eastern (Dahaize), and 10 m in the southern (Balasu) region of HRB. Attention should be paid to vegetation degradation in areas where groundwater depth exceeds the minimum threshold for plant growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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20 pages, 13707 KiB  
Article
Continuous Monitoring of the Surface Water Area in the Yellow River Basin during 1986–2019 Using Available Landsat Imagery and the Google Earth Engine
by Qingfeng Hu, Chongwei Li, Zhihui Wang, Yang Liu and Wenkai Liu
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(5), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11050305 - 10 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3544
Abstract
The Yellow River Basin (YRB) has been facing severe water shortages; hence, the long-term dynamic monitoring of its surface water area (SWA) is essential for the efficient utilization of its water resources and sustainable socioeconomic development. In order to detect the changing trajectory [...] Read more.
The Yellow River Basin (YRB) has been facing severe water shortages; hence, the long-term dynamic monitoring of its surface water area (SWA) is essential for the efficient utilization of its water resources and sustainable socioeconomic development. In order to detect the changing trajectory of the SWA of the YRB and its influencing factors, we used available Landsat images from 1986 through to 2019 and a water and vegetation indices-based method to analyze the spatial–temporal variability of four types of SWAs (permanent, seasonal, maximum and average extents), and their relationship with precipitation (Pre), temperature (Temp), leaf area index (LAI) and surface soil moisture (SM).The multi-year average permanent surface water area (SWA) and seasonal SWA accounted for 46.48% and 53.52% in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), respectively. The permanent and seasonal water bodies were dominantly distributed in the upper reaches, accounting for 70.22% and 48.79% of these types, respectively. The rate of increase of the permanent SWA was 49.82 km2/a, of which the lower reaches contributed the most (34.34%), and the rate of decrease of the seasonal SWA was 79.18 km2/a, of which the contribution of the source region was the highest (25.99%). The seasonal SWA only exhibited decreasing trends in 13 sub-basins, accounting for 15% of all of the sub-basins, which indicates that the decrease in the seasonal SWA was dominantly caused by the change in the SWA in the main river channel region. The conversions from seasonal water to non-water bodies, and from seasonal to permanent water bodies were the dominant trends from 1986 to 2019 in the YRB. The SWA was positively correlated with precipitation, and was negatively correlated with the temperature. Because the permanent and seasonal water bodies were dominantly distributed in the river channel region and sub-basins, respectively, the change in the permanent SWA was significantly affected by the regulation of the major reservoirs, whereas the change in the seasonal SWA was more closely related to climate change. The increase in the soil moisture was helpful in the formation of the permanent water bodies. The increased evapotranspiration induced by vegetation greening played a significant positive role in the SWA increase via the local cooling and humidifying effects, which offset the accelerated water surface evaporation caused by the atmospheric warming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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27 pages, 5171 KiB  
Article
Investigating Relationships between Runoff–Erosion Processes and Land Use and Land Cover Using Remote Sensing Multiple Gridded Datasets
by Cláudia Adriana Bueno da Fonseca, Nadhir Al-Ansari, Richarde Marques da Silva, Celso Augusto Guimarães Santos, Bilel Zerouali, Daniel Bezerra de Oliveira and Ahmed Elbeltagi
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(5), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11050272 - 19 Apr 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2795
Abstract
Climate variability, land use and land cover changes (LULCC) have a considerable impact on runoff–erosion processes. This study analyzed the relationships between climate variability and spatiotemporal LULCC on runoff–erosion processes in different scenarios of land use and land cover (LULC) for the Almas [...] Read more.
Climate variability, land use and land cover changes (LULCC) have a considerable impact on runoff–erosion processes. This study analyzed the relationships between climate variability and spatiotemporal LULCC on runoff–erosion processes in different scenarios of land use and land cover (LULC) for the Almas River basin, located in the Cerrado biome in Brazil. Landsat images from 1991, 2006, and 2017 were used to analyze changes and the LULC scenarios. Two simulations based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were compared: (1) default application using the standard model database (SWATd), and (2) application using remote sensing multiple gridded datasets (albedo and leaf area index) downloaded using the Google Earth Engine (SWATrs). In addition, the SWAT model was applied to analyze the impacts of streamflow and erosion in two hypothetical scenarios of LULC. The first scenario was the optimistic scenario (OS), which represents the sustainable use and preservation of natural vegetation, emphasizing the recovery of permanent preservation areas close to watercourses, hilltops, and mountains, based on the Brazilian forest code. The second scenario was the pessimistic scenario (PS), which presents increased deforestation and expansion of farming activities. The results of the LULC changes show that between 1991 and 2017, the area occupied by agriculture and livestock increased by 75.38%. These results confirmed an increase in the sugarcane plantation and the number of cattle in the basin. The SWAT results showed that the difference between the simulated streamflow for the PS was 26.42%, compared with the OS. The sediment yield average estimation in the PS was 0.035 ton/ha/year, whereas in the OS, it was 0.025 ton/ha/year (i.e., a decrease of 21.88%). The results demonstrated that the basin has a greater predisposition for increased streamflow and sediment yield due to the LULC changes. In addition, measures to contain the increase in agriculture should be analyzed by regional managers to reduce soil erosion in this biome. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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24 pages, 18532 KiB  
Article
Mapping of Rill Erosion of the Middle Volga (Russia) Region Using Deep Neural Network
by Artur Gafurov
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(3), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11030197 - 15 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2934
Abstract
Soil erosion worldwide is an intense, poorly controlled process. In many respects, this is a consequence of the lack of up-to-date high-resolution erosion maps. All over the world, the problem of insufficient information is solved in different ways, mainly on a point-by-point basis, [...] Read more.
Soil erosion worldwide is an intense, poorly controlled process. In many respects, this is a consequence of the lack of up-to-date high-resolution erosion maps. All over the world, the problem of insufficient information is solved in different ways, mainly on a point-by-point basis, within local areas. Extrapolation of the results obtained locally to a more extensive territory produces inevitable uncertainties and errors. For the anthropogenic-developed part of Russia, this problem is especially urgent because the assessment of the intensity of erosion processes, even with the use of erosion models, does not reach the necessary scale due to the lack of all the required global large-scale remote sensing data and the complexity of considering regional features of erosion processes over such vast areas. This study aims to propose a new methodology for large-scale automated mapping of rill erosion networks based on Sentinel-2 data. A LinkNet deep neural network with a DenseNet encoder was used to solve the problem of automated rill erosion mapping. The recognition results for the study area of more than 345,000 sq. km were summarized to a grid of 3037 basins and analyzed to assess the relationship with the main natural-anthropogenic factors. Generalized additive models (GAM) were used to model the dependency of rill erosion density to explore complex relationships. A complex nonlinear relationship between erosion processes and topographic, meteorological, geomorphological, and anthropogenic factors was shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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18 pages, 8182 KiB  
Article
DEM- and GIS-Based Analysis of Soil Erosion Depth Using Machine Learning
by Kieu Anh Nguyen and Walter Chen
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10(7), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10070452 - 01 Jul 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3766 | Correction
Abstract
Soil erosion is a form of land degradation. It is the process of moving surface soil with the action of external forces such as wind or water. Tillage also causes soil erosion. As outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) [...] Read more.
Soil erosion is a form of land degradation. It is the process of moving surface soil with the action of external forces such as wind or water. Tillage also causes soil erosion. As outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) #15, it is a global challenge to “combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” In order to advance this goal, we studied and modeled the soil erosion depth of a typical watershed in Taiwan using 26 morphometric factors derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) and 10 environmental factors. Feature selection was performed using the Boruta algorithm to determine 15 factors with confirmed importance and one tentative factor. Then, machine learning models, including the random forest (RF) and gradient boosting machine (GBM), were used to create prediction models validated by erosion pin measurements. The results show that GBM, coupled with 15 important factors (confirmed), achieved the best result in the context of root mean square error (RMSE) and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE). Finally, we present the maps of soil erosion depth using the two machine learning models. The maps are useful for conservation planning and mitigating future soil erosion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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2 pages, 172 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Nguyen, K.A.; Chen, W. DEM- and GIS-Based Analysis of Soil Erosion Depth Using Machine Learning. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10, 452
by Kieu Anh Nguyen and Walter Chen
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10(11), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10110724 - 27 Oct 2021
Viewed by 1161
Abstract
The authors of the published paper [1] would like to make the following corrections:(1)The last four numbers in the second column (No [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geo-Information for Watershed Processes)
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